Back in the Saddle

Ok.  So, by the end of this week, I started getting serious cabin fever.  I haven't left the house much for 2 weeks and haven't left the baby for more than a few minutes at a time.  I wanted a few minutes of Mandy time.  And I was getting ANTSY to run.   

Is it too early to get Avery fitted for running shoes?

At my doctor's appointment a week ago Friday, he told me I could start exercising again at 2 weeks post birth.  At the time, I was skeptical of the idea since I'm only getting 4-5 hours of broken sleep each day.  By Friday - I was READY TO RUN.  I told my husband and he suggested I join my MiT group for the Saturday morning run.  Morning is the hardest time for me after being up with the baby all night - but it still sounded like a good idea.


I feed the baby that last time Friday night from 4-5am.  Fell back asleep.  Woke up at 6am.  The group starts the runs at 6:30am and the location is about 20 minutes from my house.  DANG IT.  I ran around trying to get myself out the door and called Sarah to say - "I'm coming, I may be late, but I'm coming!"


I was a hot mess.  I forgot my fuel belt and my asthma inhaler - not good with the 100% humidity and fog we wound up running in - BUT, I remembered my Garmin and post-run chocolate milk.  Priorities.  :D


I was a delirious crazy woman when I got there.  It was so awesome seeing all my friends and being there for a run that I got so emotional.  I'm sure I'm also still hormonal, which didn't help.   The funniest part was saying - I sure hope Avery is willing to drink from a bottle, otherwise Mark is in for a long morning!  


I ran with Mollie and Sarah, who said they'd be going a slower pace, so as not to push myself too hard despite the adrenaline from being out again....I mean I did give birth 2.5 weeks ago, right? It was AWESOME.  At 1 mile out, I didn't want to leave Mollie and Sarah - but my body was happy to turn around.  I walked decent amounts of that 2nd mile, but - in my defense - I ran faster when I was running.


I didn't stretch afterwards because I was anxious to get home to Avery.  As a result, I was stiff getting out of the car.  Honestly, I may have been more stiff than after my half-marathon last Fall!  


2 miles.  30 minutes and 46 seconds.   Not good time, but not terrible considering I haven't run since May...and recently gave birth.  LOL.


I cannot say this enough - LOVED, LOVED, LOVED seeing all my running friends again.  LOVED IT!


My new goal - be in good enough shape to run the Oktoberfest Meiler Veir on Sept 23rd.  It's a 4 mile race with a medal...and a Schmidt's cream puff for the finishers.  That's my kind of race!  I live in Columbus, and have never had one of these.  Blasphemy. I WILL RUN THIS RACE!  :D

Schmidt's Cream Puffs - Picture from the web.